ACDC Newsletter

ACDC News – Issue 14-06

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Starving for agriculture coverage

Canadians are starving for agriculture coverage, Marilee Devries reported in the Spring 2014 issue of Ryerson Review of Journalism . “If food is the world’s most essential industry,” she asked, “why have newspapers forsaken the farm?”

“The quality of agriculture reporting in the urban press is like a wheat crop infected with fusarium head blight,” Devries observed. Her article explored trends in agriculture reporting by newspapers in Canada, causes of slippage and results for citizens and the entire country. She concluded:

“Now Canadian journalists must find a way to tell theAg story, because it’s more than nice-to-know information. It’s the story of something the whole country—and the whole world—needs: food.”

You can read this article at: http://www.rrj.ca/m28589

2014 survey of U. S. consumer perceptions of food technology

The 16 th edition of this survey by the International Food Information Council is now available. It is based on a survey of 1,000 U. S. adults, weighted on gender, age, race, education, marital status, region, and income. Among the key findings reported:

  • Confidence in the safety of the U. S. food supply remains consistently high
  • Disease/contamination and handling/prep remain the greatest food safety concerns
  • Consumers have a positive view of modern agriculture and believe biotechnology can play a role in improving multiple aspects of sustainability
  • Most have heard something about food biotechnology
  • The majority still support the current Food and Drug Administration policy for labeling of foods produced through biotechnology
  • More consumers this year are aware of biotech foods in the supermarket
  • Health and government organizations are the most trusted sources for information on food biotechnology, animal biotechnology, and sustainability
  • Millennials and moms differ from the general population on several key factors

You can read an executive summary of the survey report at: http://www.foodinsight.org/foodtechsurvey.aspx

Provide “well-written journalism and accurate facts”—in any medium

Chris Brune, executive director of American Horse Publications, made that point in a recent newsletter commentary we have added to the ACDC collection. A brand can be anything, she emphasized, including a print publication.

“Publishers are the communicators in the equine world. It is your responsibility to provide the horse community with well-written journalism and accurate facts that can be delivered quickly when necessary or with inspiration and beauty for posterity.”

You can read this thoughtful commentary at: http://www.americanhorsepubs.org/communication/newsletter_archive

Click on the October/November 2013 issue and scroll to “Writing for the brand.”

Protest videos fall short of potential

Researcher Catherine Collins found a major gap in narrative when she examined videos on YouTube about managing old-growth timber in the U.S. and Tasmania, Australia.

“Most videos discussed here do little to explain why one’s values and interests should be accepted,” she reported. “Arguments to support one’s position or refute one’s opponent’s claims are seldom presented; the protest videos celebrate or denigrate protest without arguing for the rationale behind their position.” She argued that such videos “must articulate shared values and compelling reasons for cooperation and joint action, and they must offer well-crafted narratives that have coherence and fidelity for the viewers.”

Check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu if you would like help in gaining access to this case study in the 2013 book, Environmental conflict and the media .

Mobile phone—helping disadvantaged farmers more than those better off

A rural e-service project in India involved special mobile phones carried by young assistants traveling with extension agents in the villages. An assistant used the phone to generate images and audio messaging about the issue or question facing a given farmer, then pass them on to an agricultural scientist for response. Among the findings:

  • More than 75 percent of the farmers viewed these services as useful.
  • More than 95 percent were using more agricultural advice after they were exposed to innovation.
  • The experience of using this mobile phone technology made farmers feel more at ease with new technology.
  • The disadvantaged farmers and poorer communities gained more from this ICT-assisted service than those who were better off.

You can read this 2012 research report at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/126798

View entries for IFAJ Star Prize in Photography

The International Federation of Agricultural Journalists is displaying more than 80 photos entered in the 2014 Star Prize for Photography. These images captured by photographers throughout the world fit into three categories: nature, people, and production. Winning entries will be recognized during the IFAJ Congress in Scotland during September.

You can view the IFAJ Star Prize in Photography entries at: http://www.ifaj.org/contests-awards/photo-contest/2014.html

Farm broadcasters preparing for an anniversary

We enjoyed seeing Tom Brand, Executive Director of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting, and NAFB Historian Mike Adams when they visited the NAFB Archives here on May 20. They are scouting for materials to feature during the 70 th Anniversary Celebration of NAFB later this year.

NAFB has an excellent collection of historical materials, which are maintained in the University of Illinois Archives. If you are interested in learning what they include, you can visit the detailed, online finding aid at: http://archives.library.illinois.edu/archon/index.php?p=core/search&subjectid=3155

You can also identify hundreds of these archived documents by using the ACDC online search system at: http://library.illinois.edu/funkaces/acdc . Some years ago we reviewed the NAFB Archives and identified resources that reveal innovations, impact, issues, and other developments in U. S. farm broadcasting.

Communicator activities approaching

  • June 19, 2014
    Reception of the British Guild of Agricultural Journalists at the Royal Highland Show near Edinburgh, Scotland. Information: http://www.gaj.org.uk/dates-deadlines
  • June 19-21, 2014
    “Gallop n’ Grits.” Seminar of American Horse Publications in Charleston, South Carolina. Information: http://www.americanhorsepubs.org/programs/seminars
  • June 24-26, 2014
    25 th annual meeting of the Agricultural Relations Council (ARC) in Madison, Wisconsin. Information: http://www.agrelationscouncil.org
  • June 24-27, 2014
    Annual conference of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE) in Portland, Oregon. Information: https://aceweb.org/index.php/en/2014-conference
  • July 26-30, 2014
    “Rev it up!” Agricultural Media Summit, joint meeting of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association (AAEA), Livestock Publications Council (LPC) and the Agri-Council of American Business Media in Indianapolis, Indiana. Also features the annual meeting of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow (ACT). Information: http://www.agmediasummit.com
  • September 4-8, 2014
    “Innovations from a small island.” Annual IFAJ Congress of the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists in Aberdeenshire Angus, Banffshire and Moray, Scotland. Information: http://www.ifaj2014.com/action-packed-days

Breath-taking writing skills

Those of us who teach agricultural journalism and communications pay great attention to helping students improve their writing. We close this issue of ACDC News with an unusual suggestion. It comes from Marilyn Johnson in The Dead Beat , her book featuring “the lost souls, lucky stiffs and perverse pleasures of obituaries.” Noting one especially-engrossing obituary, she observed:

“It’s almost impossible to teach that sort of writing except by pointing students to a stack of clips and telling them, ‘Inhale these’.”

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu

ACDC News – Issue 14-05

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Stars using music video to promote agriculture

Thanks to Kathy Alison, senior training adviser of Training Resources Group, Inc., for alerting us to a new music video called “Cocoa is Chocolate.” It was produced by the ONE.org foundation as part of a pan-African campaign aimed at African youth to encourage them to work in agriculture. “Their message is simple: agriculture in Africa has the potential to provide food, create jobs, and boost economies, but African leaders need to invest now,” a report on the ONE website explains.

Nineteen performers in the 4:37 video include some of the most popular artists from Africa. They represent the biggest music collaboration in Africa’s history and their video features 11 different languages.

You can view the 4:37 video at: http://www.one.org/us/2014/04/03/video-19-top-african-artists-collaborate-on-cocoa-na-chocolate-for-one

You can learn more about the “Do Agric” campaign at: http://www.one.org/doagric/

How to view erratic adoption and use of decision support systems in farming

Is it due to advanced age of farmers? Lack of computer literacy? Complexity or poor design of such systems? Take another view, suggested Australian researchers Bill Long and Kevin Parton in a paper they presented at the 2013 conference of the Australasia Pacific Extension Network.

More than 50 percent of Australian farmers employ consultants to assist in decision making, the researchers reported. Farm consultants are the main users of Decision Support Systems, and once they understand the main principles they discontinue use. “Developers of DSS should target consultants and users and accept discontinued use of DSS as success,” the authors concluded.

You can read an abstract of “Decision Support Systems (DSS) – Where success is failure of continued use” at: http://www.apen.org.au/conference-2013 > “Conference Program and Abstracts” or check with the lead author at bill@agconsulting.com about access to the full paper.

Building confidence among food buyers

Thanks to John Blue of Truffle Media Networks for alerting us to a SwineCast presentation from a recent conference of the National Institute of Animal Agriculture. This video presentation explained how a regional grocery chain, Heinen’s Fine Foods, works and communicates to instill confidence among customers. Presenter Tom Heinen addressed aspects such as:

  • Trends in retail food marketing
  • What’s important to customers these days
  • How the firm addresses customer questions and concerns

You can view this presentation (24:22) at: http://www.swinecast.com/mr-tom-heinen-consumer-and-food-perceptions-realities-and-steps-towards-instilling-confidence

More evidence of economic payback from public extension

“We find that extension activities, road density and R&D [research and development] spill-ins play an important role in enhancing the benefit of public R&D investment.” That conclusion was reported in 2012 by a team of researchers who used 1980-2004 panel data to estimate the contributions of public research to growth of agricultural productivity in the U.S.

In this analysis, a 10 percent increase in extension activities increased the local internal rate of return, on average, by 1.4 percentage points. That is, in one model a 10 percent increase in extension service raised the local internal rate of return on agricultural R&D from 10.75 percent to 12.15 percent.

You can read the report, which was presented at the International Association of Agricultural Economists triennial conference in Brazil: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/126368 .

The ethics of photographing locals

That is the title of a recent commentary by Christie Long in the website of Why.Dev.org. She identified two concerns that tourists should consider. The concerns extend beyond tourists.

  • “Objectifying” local people through photos taken of them in their homes, going about their daily lives. “Consider your intent and whether that is fair on your subject.”
  • Privacy and safety of local residents photographed. Taking a photograph, even with the person’s permission, can be dangerous, especially in the context of online posting and sharing of photos. “Hold their privacy and safety in the highest regard.”

The author notes that most international and grassroots organizations that work with local communities, particularly those working with children, have policies and procedures in place to protect their beneficiaries from abuse and exploitation.

You can read this information at: http://www.whydev.org/the-ethics-of-photographing-locals

Please let us know ( docctr@library.illinois.edu ) if you would like for us to help identify some of these policies and procedures for your own use, or within your organization.

Missing link in reporting about climate change

S. Gopikrishna Warrier, regional manager-environment with Panos South Asia, is pointing attention to a gap in the narrative about climate change. “The issue of climate change and global warming are still vague for the uninitiated,” the author explains. “That is still because the reader cannot link between the developments that he experiences in his day-to-day life to something related to a warming world and discussions that experts have in international meetings. … How the macro links the micro and vice versa is mostly lost in the reporting.”

“As a result, the media misses an opportunity to discuss climate change in relation to local issues. In turn, the public and the policy makers miss out on such a discussion.”

You can see two of the author’s recent commentaries about this missing link here:

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/opinion/media-needs-a-climate-change/article4623897.ece

http://www.gopi-warrier.blogspot.com/2011/08/missing-link.html

Communicator activities approaching

A caution to those who report living history

We close this issue of ACDC News with Lyla Baradam’s challenge to environmental journalists about the perspectives they take in reporting It’s an African proverb:

“Till the lions have their own historians, tales of hunting will always glorify the hunter.”

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions, and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu .

ACDC News – Issue 14-04

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Question for environmental journalists: Why not report on the future of food and agriculture?

Chris Clayton, policy editor for DTN/ The Progressive Farmer , raised that question in the Fall 2013 issue of SEJournal , newsletter of the Society of Environmental Journalists. He suggested food and agriculture as a way to connect average Americans to climate change, and to how they will have to adapt to it. “After all,” he said, “most Americans may not visit the polar ice caps, but everyone needs to eat.”

The article identified several possible story angles, sources, and events for reporting on agriculture and climate change. He reminded reporters that they need get out of the office to do so effectively.

You can read the article at: http://www.sej.org/publications/sejournal-fa13/dirt-ag-adaptation

The literature of environmental communication

The International Environmental Communication Association recently published a 68-page bibliography of journal articles related to environmental communications. The publication dates range from 1948 to 2001, with many of the articles published during the 1990s.

You can read this bibliography at: http://theieca.org/bibliographies/literature-environmental-communication

Congratulations at 10 th Anniversaries

  • Sara Wyant and her associates at Agri-Pulse celebrate their 10 th anniversary. They provide timely agricultural and rural policy news and insights through their comprehensive weekly report and online information from Washington, D.C.
  • Hugh Maynard and his associates at Qu’anglo Communications and Consulting celebrate their 10 th anniversary of full-service communications support for agricultural and rural communities in Quebec and across Canada.
  • Chuck and Cindy Zimmerman of ZimmComm New Media celebrate their 10 th anniversary of pioneering agricultural communications through innovative uses of blogs, podcasts, and social networking.

Best wishes to all.

Problems in thinking about women and agricultural leadership

A journal article we added recently to the ACDC collection raises questions about tendencies during the past decade to present women as being interested in different spheres of leadership and as having different skills of leadership. The questions arose for author Barbara Pini when she examined the representation of farm women in academic, government, and industry literature on women’s leadership in agriculture and natural resource management.

She observed that by unquestioningly adopting a discourse of difference and uncritically representing it as “truth,” we may find that we:

  • ignore the experiences of a great diversity of women in agriculture,
  • obscure men who are marginalized within the sector,
  • leave unquestioned the conflation of masculinity and leadership,
  • reinforce stereotypical assumptions about women, and
  • perpetuate the representation of men as leaders as the agricultural norm.

You can read the abstract of this Rural Society journal article, “Sheep, shadows and silly saints,” at: http://rsj.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/13/issue/2/article/1160/sheep-shadows-and-silly-saints

Please check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu for help in gaining full-text access.

Agricultural images in the public domain

Thanks to Greg Brooks and Donna Abernathy of the Cooperative Communicators Association, for calling attention to photos that may serve the needs of agricultural journalists and communicators. Their alert appeared in a recent issue of the CCA Communiqué newsletter.

This collection is maintained by the Public Health Image Library (PHIL) of the U.S. health protection agency, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Photos, illustrations, and multi-media files are organized into special interests. For example, the “Environmental Health” section includes images of:

  • Food, including safe food preparation
  • Fish and fish handling
  • Agriculture, gardening, and pesticides in farming
  • Safety of workers and children
  • Recreation
  • Pet care

Other sections range from “Natural Disasters/Pathogens” and “Bioterrorism” to “Everyday Activities.” Most images are in the public domain. You can review the collection at: http://phil.cdc.gov/phil/home.asp

ICTs used most by Extension agents in Oyo State, Nigeria

Radio, television and mobile phones are the information and communication technologies used most by Extension agents to disseminate agricultural information. That report comes from a 2013 article in the International Journal of Agricultural Management and Development .  Researchers recommended greater use of these ICTs, which “are most accessed by all concerned in the study area.”  They also recommended that Extension service providers undergo periodic on-the-job training on the use of ICTs.

You can read the article at: http://www.ijamad.com/vol13no2june2013.htm

Communicator activities approaching

Sharing (beyond today) what you know and do

We close this issue of ACDC News with a headline we saw in a 2013 issue of the Australian Journal of Rural Health :

“A PowerPoint is for a conference, an article is forever.”

That distinction is on our minds each day as we gather information about communications aspects of agriculture. For historical purposes, visuals posted from a PowerPoint presentation are usually only a skeleton of what someone said. So we encourage you to finalize and keep your script during this conference season when you present findings, new techniques and tips for effective communicating. In fact, send it to us at docctr@library.illinois.edu . We will give it a good home. Also, ACDC will provide a valuable platform for sharing your insights with others around the globe and across the decades ahead. Thank you.

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu .

ACDC News – Issue 14-03

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Farmers using smartphone self portraits

Thanks to Natalie Bosecker for helping us begin to track a popular new activity, which the Irish Farmers Journal is reported to have kicked off during December. The activity is reflected in headlines of these sample articles, which feature some photos farmers have taken of themselves:

Eight new research reports from JAC

The final 2013 issue of the Journal of Applied Communications featured eight research articles. Several addressed uses of visuals and video for reporting on topics such as climate change, production agriculture, planting methods, health and nutrition. Others ranged across media portrayals of agriculture, community supported agriculture, and how agri-marketers view corporate social responsibility.

You can read these articles in Issue 4 of Volume 97 at: http://journalofappliedcommunications.org

  • “Picturing the underserved audience: Photovoice as method in applied communication research” by Abigail S. Borron.
  • “A case study of the crisis communications used in the 2009 salmonella outbreak in peanut products” by Erica Irlbeck, Jessica Fry Jennings, Courtney Meyers, Courtney Gibson, and Todd Chambers.
  • “Recruiting and retaining shareholders for community supported agriculture in Texas” by Kelsey Hall, Courtney Meyers, David Doerfert, Cindy Akers, and Phillip Johnson.
  • “Using video as a replacement or complement for the traditional lecture/demonstration method in agricultural training in rural Uganda” by Tian Cai, and Eric Abbott.
  • “NAMA members’ perceptions of corporate social responsibility” by Lacy M. Muntean, Traci L. Naile and Greer Gill.
  • “Perceptions of global and domestic agricultural issues held by international agricultural journalists” by Laura Kubitz, Ricky Telg, Tracy Irani, and Owen Roberts.
  • “Agriculture at eleven: Visual rhetoric and news media portrayals of agriculture” by Annie R. Specht and Tracy Rutherford.
  • “Planning and evaluating science video programs using communication science” by Joseph Cone and Kirsten Winters.

Estimating the cost of an extension event

In this era of tight budgets and cost recovery, George W. Morse, University of Minnesota, recently developed a useful tool for estimating the cost of developing and delivering an extension event. His Extension Economics Note also explores ways to estimate the cost per person and how this cost changes as the scale of the program increases.

You can retrieve his report at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/129289

Australian agriculture needs social media activism

[Thanks to Gordon Collie of AGRI-Prose, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, for this summary of a presentation during October at the Australian Lot Feeders Association Beefworks Conference.]

Australian agriculture has been challenged to take to the social media to publicly defend its image. Leading communications consultant, Tim Powell has struck a chord in the rural community with his call for a new brand of rural activism.

Powell, who is president of the Australian Council of Agricultural Journalists, suggests a new pro-rural communications lobby might be called EatUP! His word play relates to one of the most visible social campaigning groups in Australia called GetUP!  He makes the point that animal welfare groups enjoy an enormous social media following and raise thousands of dollars in campaign funding through channels such as Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.

It was time, he said, for the Australian rural sector to develop its own “crowd funding” platform so farmers and city-based supporters could run campaigns promoting agriculture.

You can read a more detailed report of this presentation, “Ag’s social media challenge.” It was written by James Nason and posted on BeefCentral.com, at: http://beefcentral.com/news/article/3849

Unhealthy food messages on cable tv for tweens

That finding appeared in a study reported early this year in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior . Researchers identified food-related scenes (food shown, mentioned and/or consumed) in nearly 880 minutes of “Disney Channel” cable television for 11- to 14-year-olds. Findings demonstrated significant presence of food—more than 16 food-related scenes per hour in the six programs. Nearly half of the food items did not fit into any food group of the USDA Food Guide Pyramid; they were considered “other,” contributing “empty calories.” Researchers found the findings especially disconcerting because television is only one of the media forms shaping the food attitudes and behaviors of youngsters at that age.

You can read this journal article at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1499404613006271

Five tips for multitasking in environmental reporting

We have added to the ACDC collection an article by freelancer Adam Hinterthuer, “Juggling chainsaws, torches, and watermelons: How to manage multiple assignments.” He offered five tips he has learned from his time in the circus:

  • Set deadlines for everything.
  • Don’t tune in but do drop out. “Sometimes I have to (gasp!) close my web browser, turn off my phone and focus on the tasks at hand.”
  • Create a flexible workplace.
  • Lower your expectations.
  • Don’t do it. “Perhaps the real secret to juggling jobs is not to do it all that much.”

You can read this article in the Society of Environmental Journalists newsletter at: http://www.sej.org/publications/sejournal-fa13/juggling-chainsaws-torches-and-watermelons-how-manage-multiple-assignments

Communicator activities approaching

  • April 6-8, 2014
    Annual meeting of North American Agricultural Journalists in Washington, D. C.
    Information: http://www.naaj.net/meetings
  • April 9-11, 2014
    “A fresh perspective.” 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), in Jacksonville, Florida.
    Information: http://www.nama.org/amc
  • April 27-May 1, 2014
    Annual conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education in Miami, Florida.
    Information: https://www.aiaee.org
  • June 24-27, 2014
    Annual conference of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE) in Portland, Oregon.
    Information: https://aceweb.org/index.php/en/2014-conference

Great example of social media communications in agriculture

We close this issue with special thanks to ACDC Associate Liz Harfull in South Australia for alerting us recently with that message heading. She called attention to the “Wild Radish Song,” a parody based on a hit, “Somebody I Used to Know.” The song runs 3:15 and features Bill Long, a farmer and agronomic consultant in South Australia. It is described as “a farmer’s lament on attempts to control wild radish resulting in the loss of chemical options to the point where only radical options are available.

“Got addicted to a certain kind of farming,” Bill Long sings, noting that the “game is nearly over. … Wish I’d been more thoughtful then.”

You can view this song at: http://agex.org.au/media/wild-radish-song

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu .

ACDC News – Issue 14-02

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

USDA Crop Progress reports “have substantial information value.”

That evaluation came recently from researcher Georg V. Lehecka, who analyzed how corn and soybean futures markets react to crop progress information from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. His analysis covered the period 1986 to 2012. Findings suggested that:

  • Market prices tend to react rapidly to new crop condition information.
  • Strongest market reactions occurred during the summer months of July and August when weather conditions are most critical for the crop.
  • Market reactions to Crop Progress reports have increased over time.

You can read this research report at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/142491

“It is going to be great! All natural ingredients.”

So read the caption of a New Yorker cartoon in which three witches were standing around a steaming cauldron of witches’ brew. This reference from more than 30 years ago caught our attention recently in a 1982 lecture by Professor Richard Wilson of Harvard University.

“A number of people argue that natural foods are better and our problems of cancer and so on arise from artificial chemicals,” he noted. “It is conventional wisdom to ridicule this. This ridicule is illustrated in a New Yorker cartoon showing that natural ingredients were used for witches’ brews as well as for honest men’s sustenance.” Natural phenomenon may wipe out the human race, he added.

It is important, he concluded, to understand a proper flow of information in reaching decisions about risk. “Risk analysis is an aid to a decision and should not be a decision in itself.”

Please check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu if you are interested in gaining access to this lecture, “Traps and errors in risk analysis.”

Call for addressing restrictions on agricultural photography

Thanks to retired agricultural journalist Fred Myers for a thoughtful response to our recent item in ACDC News about restrictions being considered and placed on photographs taken in public places.

He suggested that all agricultural journalists should be aware of what has already happened and is about to happen in the rest of the communications environment, then take a proactive stance against unreasonable measures that would unduly restrict them from gaining important access. “This subject deserves a sense of urgency from everyone in ag journalism.”

You can read his full response here .

Images of agriculture featured in recent research

Three articles in the third 2013 issue of the Journal of Applied Communications examined consumer perceptions about food, plants, farming and agriculture. Other articles in the issue addressed topics such as morale within a natural resources public organization, teaching multi-media communications skills, and reaching those who grow coffee in India.

You can read these articles in Issue 3 of Volume 97 at: http://journalofappliedcommunications.org

  • “An integrated approach to teach communication skills using educational technologies” by Shannon Arnold and Suzi Taylor.
  • “Internal communication and morale in a natural resources public organization” by Quisto Settle, Ricky Telg, Hannah Carter, and Tracy Irani.
  • “An exploration of consumer perceptions of plants and plant characteristics: A qualitative study of Florida plant and garden consumers” by Kathryn Wilson, Carly Barnes, and Tracy Irani.
  • “Consumer perceptions of the U.S. agriculture industry before and after watching the film “Food Inc.” by Jessica Holt and Dwayne Cartmell.
  • “Narrowing the farm-to-plate knowledge gap through semiotics and the study of consumer responses regarding livestock images” by Joy N. Rumble and Emily B. Buck.
  • “Management of coffee leaf rust disease in India: Evidence for channels of communication” by M. R. Narayana.

How consumers decide about buying Fair Trade coffee

A team of researchers at the University of Kassel (Germany) used an Information-Display-Matrix experiment to trace the information-gathering behavior and final purchase decision of a sample of consumers. Among the tested product attributes, here are the four that proved most important:

  • Fair Trade label
  • Production method (organic or conventional)
  • Product price
  • Protection of children (ethical attribute)

Consumers in this experiment searched information extensively and applied strategic approaches in their searches.

You can read this report at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/135778

Welcoming new ACDC Director Lura Joseph

Professor Lura Joseph is new director of the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. She began this part-time appointment January, 2014. It accompanies her part-time service as Content Access and Research Services Librarian in the University of Illinois Library.

Lura brings to the Center a rich combination that encompasses physical sciences, information sciences, and human interaction. Following her undergraduate degree in anthropology, she earned graduate degrees in geology, psychology, and library and information studies. She gained professional experience in petroleum geology, then found career interest in library and information sciences. Combining those areas, she served as physical sciences librarian at North Dakota State University before she joined the Library faculty at the University of Illinois in 2001, serving as head of the Geology Library until it closed in January, 2011. ACDC associates are delighted to welcome her in this important leadership role.

“I am looking forward to serving in this new capacity,” Lura states. “It complements my experience and interest in grey literature (literature that is difficult to identify and access), indexing of scientific literature, creating and maintaining electronic bibliographic databases, and providing reference services.”

Professor Lura Joseph

Communicator activities approaching

  • February 17-21, 2014
    52 nd Convocation Program of Post-Graduate School, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Includes recognition for educational achievements in the social sciences.
    Information: dean@iari.res.in
  • February 26-29. 2014
    Krishi Vigyan Mela (Agricultural Science Fair) of the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi. Features climate-related interactions of farmers and scientists, empowerment of farm women and sale of products by farmers.
    Information: jd_extn@airi.res.in
  • February 28, 2014
    Deadline for entries in the green reporting competition sponsored by the German Association of Agricultural Journalists and open to German agricultural journalists.
    Information: Friederike Krick at krick@agrar-press.de
  • April 6-8, 2014
    Annual meeting of North American Agricultural Journalists in Washington, D. C.
    Information: http://www.naaj.net/meetings
  • April 9-11, 2014
    “A fresh perspective.” 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), in Jacksonville, Florida.
    Information: http://www.nama.org/amc
  • April 27-May 1, 2014
    Annual conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education in Miami, Florida.
    Information: https://www.aiaee.org

The flipside of an information-rich world

We close this issue of ACDC News with an insight provided by H. Simon more than 40 years ago, when computers appeared on the horizon.

“In an information-rich world, a wealth of resources creates a poverty of attention.”

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu .

ACDC News – Issue 14-01

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Welcome to the first 2014 issue of ACDC News

We hope you enjoy a New Year of news and updates from the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center. What began 32 years ago as a small teaching file for

agricultural communications faculty members here at the University of Illinois has become a unique international resource and service. What you read in ACDC News only scratches the surface of information flowing daily into this online-searchable collection. It now includes nearly 40,000 documents that involve communications aspects of agriculture, food, feed, fiber, renewable energy, natural resources, and rural development in more than 170 countries.

Thank you!

The Center started from scratch and operates with no big budget. But it has an increasingly important mission—helping bring together and provide access to the widely-scattered body of knowledge about this vital field of interest. It also has a dedicated staff, an exceptional University Library resource and the inspiration of you who use this resource and help strengthen it. Thank you. We look forward to sharing research, news, perspectives and other information that helps you communicate effectively and grow professionally. Also, please let us know whenever we can assist you in special ways.

Re-educating about rural America and what goes on there

Tom Vilsack, U. S. Secretary of Agriculture, addressed that need during his recent presentation at the Rural Futures Conference in Lincoln, Nebraska. Agriculture needs to do a better job of telling its story to urban dwellers, he said, especially those who give little thought to how food gets to their tables.

“Now is the time for us to re-emphasize, re-educate and remind America of the importance of rural America. We have to market agricultural research in a way that people understand what’s in it for them.” People “don’t quite get what’s going on on the farm because we don’t talk to them, so they get some pretty crazy ideas.”

You can read a news report of his speech at: http://news.unl.edu/newsrooms/unltoday/article/vilsack-rural-us-has-much-to-gain-must-tell-story-better

You can listen to the speech at: http://heuermannlectures.unl.edu/2013-2014

Increased agricultural productivity – reduced poverty. Right?

Well, yes—but… When agricultural economics researchers Rebati Mendali and Lewell F. Gunter analyzed that relationship for a set of developing countries they found support in the pooled sample. However, productivity change involving small samples did not show any significant impact on poverty reduction.

“…there are other relevant variables that affect poverty in a country,” the researchers concluded in their 2013 conference paper.

You can read it at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/143073

How food brand retailers can address the fickle behavior of bargain shoppers

This subject earned recognition as one of the Top Ten Stories in Progressive Grocer during 2013. Author Amber Williams highlighted dramatic changes in food shopping and offered these five coping tools for food brand retailers:

  1. Capitalize on differentiating yourself—”personal, authentic, and creative ideas that help you stand apart from your competition, connect your business with consumers, and build stronger loyalty.”
  2. Build a strong, consistent look and feel.
  3. Understand your consumers and mold your deals and discounts to fit their needs.
  4. Help your loyal customers feel like VIPs.
  5. Be there where they need you, when they need you.

You can read this article, “Lost in the supermarket,” at: http://www.progressivegrocer.com/top-stories/expert-columns/industry-intelligence/id37023/lost-in-the-supermarket/

Valuable efforts for ethical agricultural reporting

The ACDC team salutes Karen Simon, retiring chair of the Ethics Committee of the American Agricultural Editors’ Association, and her fellow members. During recent years they have taken important steps to assure ethical agricultural reporting that serves audiences through fairness, accuracy, honesty, intelligence and truth.

You can view the AAEA codes, case studies and curriculum online at these sites:

Dedicated ACDC director retires

Congratulations and best wishes to Prof. Joyce Wright, ACDC coordinator who retired last month after serving in the University of Illinois Library for more than 28 years. Joyce has served as director of the Agricultural Communications Documentation Center since May 2010.

Under her effective guidance, the Center has grown and advanced on all fronts. She guided the establishment of a new web-based bibliographic system that strengthens user access to the ACDC collection, which grew from about 34,500 to more than 39,500 documents during her service. Among other contributions, she:

  • Envisioned and planned innovative new outreach services, including custom research and education programs
  • Hosted professionals and scholars from throughout the world
  • Coordinated the processing of six new contributed collections and the development of a new website
  • Improved policies and procedures
  • Increased awareness of resources and services of the Center among stakeholders
  • Mentored a half dozen graduate and undergraduate assistants

We are grateful for Joyce’s dedicated service and wish her the best in retirement.

joyce

Communicator activities approaching

  • February 1-4, 2014
    Research Program, Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists (SAAS) at an annual conference in Dallas, Texas. Information: http://saasinc.org/2014-Dallas/Welcome_page.asp
  • February 10, 2014
    Deadline for research proposals, theses and dissertations from graduate students in an awards program sponsored by the Research Special Interest Group of the Association for Communication Excellence in Agriculture, Natural Resources, and Life and Human Sciences (ACE). Awards will be presented at the ACE Annual Meeting, June 24-27, 2014 in Portland, Oregon. Information: Prof. Courtney Meyers at courtney.meyers@ttu.edu
  • February 10-11, 2014
    2014 Professional Development Workshop of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) in Sacramento, California.  Information: http://www.communicators.coop/cca_workshop_2014.htm
  • February 28, 2014
    Deadline for entries in the green reporting competition sponsored by the German Association of Agricultural Journalists and open to German agricultural journalists. Information: Friederike Krick at krick@agrar-press.de
  • April 6-8, 2014
    Annual meeting of North American Agricultural Journalists in Washington, D. C. Information: http://www.naaj.net/meetings
  • April 9-11, 2014
    “A fresh perspective.” 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), in Jacksonville, Florida. Information: http://www.nama.org/amc
  • April 27-May 1, 2014
    Annual conference of the Association for International Agricultural and Extension Education in Miami, Florida. Information: https://www.aiaee.org

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu

ACDC News – Issue 13-17

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

How consumers view nanofood—the case of canola oil

A national online survey among U.S. consumers produced insights about potentials for nanotechnology in food and agriculture. Findings were reported at a conference during August by a team of agricultural economists at the University of Kentucky. Their choice experiment revealed differing responses toward three branches of nanotechnologies, as related to purchase of canola oil:

  • Consumers were willing to pay less for canola oil if it was produced from nano-scale-modified seed (nanoagriculture).
  • They were willing to pay less if the final products were packed with nanotechnology-enhanced packaging technique (nanopackaging).
  • No significant difference appeared in willingness to pay for oil that was designed with health enhancing nano-engineered oil drops, which would require interaction with the human digestive system (nanodrops).

“Findings from this study will help bridge the gap between scientific innovation and public policy and social-economic concerns,” the researchers concluded.

You can read the conference paper, “Public acceptance of and willingness to pay for nanofood: case of canola oil,” at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/149662

Country journalists “honing their lie detectors”

Recent research in rural Australia reveals that country newspaper reporters continue the process of selecting and rejecting information, even in today’s fast-paced, anonymous online environment. Researcher Josie Vine analyzed 10 regional non-daily newspapers in Victoria. Findings prompted a conclusion that the country journalists selected and rejected information based on news values that support economic, political and social progress in their local communities.

They “have not lost sight of their primary strength—local reporting.”

You can read the abstract of this article, “News values and country non-daily news reporting,” at: http://rsj.e-contentmanagement.com/archives/vol/21/issue/2/article/4611/news-values-and-country-nondaily-news-reporting

Please check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu for help in gaining full-text access.

What farmers are asking about cover crops

Thanks to Tamsyn Jones of Practical Farmers of Iowa for alerting us to a new resource about research needed to advance cover crop adoption in agriculture-intensive regions. This research commentary appeared in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems and Community Development . Authors Sarah Carlson and Ryan Stockwell observed that researchers for the most part are not keeping up with farmers’ innovations on cover crops nor on providing the information sought by farmers.

The authors identified 11 questions farmers are asking about costs-benefits, seeding methods, crop mixes, environmental impacts, and other aspects of cover crops. In addition, they identified nine research questions for social scientists. Those involve the sociological and psychological determinants of adoption of cover crops for sustainable farming.

You can read this article, “Research priorities for advancing adoption of cover crops,” at: http://www.agdevjournal.com/attachments/article/366/JAFSCD_Cover_Crop_Adoption_Commentary_August-2013.pdf

Extension agents, agribusiness professionals and USDA market information

We recently added to the ACDC collection results of a study to improve understanding of the current preferences of county extension agents and agribusiness professionals or market analysts for USDA market information in the livestock and poultry sector. Findings indicated that extension agents generally preferred reports that focused on the crop and cattle sectors. Agribusiness professionals and market analysts expressed preference for reports that could be considered leading agricultural economic indicators predicting stocks of agricultural commodities.

You can read this 2013 conference paper at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/143007

Lots of new Extension research in the Australasia Pacific Region

We recently added to the ACDC collection abstracts of more than 40 papers presented at the 2013 international conference of the Australasia Pacific Extension Network (APEN). “Transformative change, chosen or unchosen: pathways to innovation, resilience and prosperity” was the theme of this conference at Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand, during August.

You can review the 100-page program and abstracts at: http://www.apen.org.au/conference-2013

Kerry J. Byrnes papers processed

The Agricultural Communications Documentation Center is proud to announce that you can now identify online nearly 300 new acquisitions to the Kerry J. Byrnes Collection. The papers of Dr. Kerry J. Byrnes, senior program specialist with the U.S. Agency for International Development, have been processed and can be identified in the BibLeaves database.

Dr. Byrnes is a leading contributor to the body of literature about social and communications aspects of agricultural, rural and economic development. The collection contains theses, dissertations, journal articles, special reports, conference proceedings, manuals and other information. His work with USAID has involved more than 36 countries in Latin America, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. Joyce Wright of the ACDC staff took the lead in this processing effort.

You can learn more about Dr. Byrnes and the collection he contributed at: http://www.library.illinois.edu/funkaces/acdc/contributedcollections.html

You can identify these documents by searching on “Kerry J. Byrnes” in the BibLeaves search system at: http://bibleaves.library.illinois.edu/catalog?&results_view=true

New agricultural communications program leader at Illinois

Professor Lulu Rodriguez, recognized as a gifted communicator, teacher, and scholar, is new director of the Agricultural Communications Program at the University of Illinois. She joined the faculty during September to lead an innovative dual academic program offered by the College of Media and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES).

Professor Rodriguez brings to this position a strong background in agricultural and rural communications, within the U.S. and internationally.

You can learn more about her here .

Communicator activities approaching

  • February 1-4, 2014
    Research Program, Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists conference in Dallas, Texas. Information: http://saasinc.org/2014-Dallas/Welcome_page.asp
  • February 10, 2014
    Deadline for research proposals, theses and dissertations
  • April 9-11, 2014
    “A fresh perspective.” 2014 Agri-Marketing Conference of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA), in Jacksonville, Florida. Information: http://www.nama.org

On “agriculture”

We close this issue of ACDC News with a suggestion offered by Larry Whiting, late professor of agricultural communication, Ohio State University:

“We should not be embarrassed about embracing the term agriculture.”

He emphasized how agriculture is much broader than the production dimensions of it.

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu

ACDC News – Issue 13-16

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Disappearing photographs

That’s the title of a commentary we have added to the ACDC collection. Author Brian McDermott noted that although the importance of photojournalism and video is growing, institutions increasingly curtail and control access for visual journalists.

“…visual journalists in the U.S. are often heavily restricted in how they can photograph inside hospitals, schools, jails, big box stores, courtrooms, power plants, bailed-out financial firms, universities, and farms,” he said.  His reference to farms centered on proposed legislation that would criminalize the act of photographing a farm without consent.

You can read his commentary from the Free Press interest group at: http://www.freepress.net/blog/11/05/26/disappearing-photographs

Sorting the hope and hype of traditional knowledge

Two researchers at the Center for Development Research (ZIF), University of Bonn, recently published a working paper to unveil “the different narratives that continue to refashion TK (traditional knowledge) as a buzzword and boundary concept.”

The 28-page report introduces underlying motives that led to the popularity of traditional knowledge, as well as the polarizing impact of it on marginal communities. Authors also offer insight into political debates about intellectual property rights for traditional knowledge.

You can read this working paper at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/151401 .

Distress and burnout among dairy farmers

Research among 530 dairy farmers in New Zealand led researchers Neels Botha and Toni White to conclude that:

  • Farmers are more stressed than they are willing to acknowledge. About 50 percent did not seek help or support, even when the screening instrument showed they were seriously stressed.
  • Exhaustion is a problem on farmers. Twenty-one percent had a high exhaustion score while 11 percent had a high burnout score.
  • Extension can play a role to identify those under stress and help them get relief.

You can read an abstract of this “Distress and burnout” conference paper at: http://www.apen.org.au/conference-2013 > “Conference Program and Abstracts” or check with the lead author at neels.botha@agresearch.co.nz about access to the full paper.

” Things like that don ‘ t happen here ”

We recently added to the ACDC collection an article in Crime, Media and Culture about how media cover crime in rural, suburban and urban settings. Researcher Aurora Wallace analyzed 470 crime stories in nine U.S. states over a six-year period.

Results prompted the researcher to observe how the media covered crimes differently according to where they occur, setting the scene for how we are to think of the place normally and using the picturesque and scenic as preventative agents against the forces of evil. She found that coverage reinforced:

  • The city imagined as the place from which crime emanates.
  • Communities imagined as safe (or unsafe).
  • Victims as unfairly punished for being successful and suburban.
  • Property values and neighborhood prestige being maintained.
  • Suburban areas less deserving of crime than urban areas.

Check with us at docctr@library.illinois.edu for help in gaining access to this journal article.

Rural phone calls going astray

In a New York Times article last month, Edward Wyatt reported that in rural America as many as one in five long-distance landline calls goes astray, never connecting to the intended number. “A caller might hear the sound of a ringing phone through a handset, but the actual phone might not ring, a busy signal could be wrongly transmitted or the line might simply go dead.”

He described new rules of the Federal Communications Commission to require phone companies to collect and report data on the number of rural calls that goes through.

You can read the article at: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/29/business/media/fcc-acts-to-improve-phone-calls-for-rural-america.html

Dilemmas in fair price information for the hog market

“How do we proceed without a spot market?” Steve Meyer of Paragon Economics, Inc., asked in a presentation at the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum earlier this year. He explained that:

  • Prices for fewer and fewer hogs are being negotiated.
  • Numbers of trades are now low enough to question accuracy.
  • Producers have a great deal of control over the level of negotiations but are collectively letting it fall.
  • There are alternatives for establishing value—some good, some bad.

Obviously, market information is a key factor. Possible solutions he identified included charging those who use data and compensating those who produce data.

You can see this presentation at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/146858

Rural libraries on a solid foundation

Rural libraries have a bright future, according to Lee Rainie, Director of the Pew Research Center’s Internet Project. Speaking during September to members of the Association for Rural and Small Libraries, he offered “five big reasons your foundation is solid:”

  1. Libraries are appreciated. For example, 90 percent of rural residents say they consider libraries important to communities.
  2. Libraries stack up well with other institutions, in terms of public confidence. They rank considerably higher than newspapers, television, small business, public schools, and other institutions.
  3. People like librarians. Ninety-seven percent of rural residents who visit libraries say the interactions are very/mostly positive.
  4. Libraries have rebranded themselves as tech hubs.
  5. Reading is alive and well. Seventy-three percent of rural residents who are at least 16 years old have read a book during the previous year.

You can view the director’s presentation at: http://www.slideshare.net/PewInternet/2013-92613-the-next-library-pdf?ref=http://pewinternet.org/Presentations/2013/Sep/The-next-rural-library.aspx

Communicator activities approaching

  • November 13-15, 2013
    “Farm broadcasting: Intrusive Success.” Annual meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA. Information: http://www.nafb.com

Cautionary note about progress in our academic programs

We close this issue of ACDC News with a view expressed in 1971 by H. W. Hannah, who headed academic programs in the College of Agriculture, University of Illinois:

“When we say that our programs are more sophisticated [than earlier ones] it may mean we have ceased to pay attention to something quite fundamental.”

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu

ACDC News – Issue 13-15

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Big communications gap between consumer scientists and food technologists.

It helps account for a failure rate of about 70-80 percent in the introduction of new food products, according to researchers M. Ragona, M. Raley, S.J. Sijtsema and L.J. Frewer. With funding from the European Commission, they conducted a Delphi survey aimed at identifying potential barriers and success factors at various stages of the food technology development process. Among the barriers that participants identified:

  • Theoretical and linguistic differences across these disciplines were the most commonly mentioned barrier to communications. For example, consumer scientists were more likely to agree that food technologists find it difficult to interpret consumer information, whereas food technologists were more likely to agree that consumer information is not specific enough for them to use.
  • Inadequate communication between consumer scientists and food technologists was commonly regarded as a barrier to inclusion of consumer science data into product development.
  • Poor (often late) timing was cited in getting information from consumer scientists to food technologists when key decisions are being made.

Authors suggested seven key priorities for improving communications among key players in the food technology development process.

You can read this conference paper at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/151597 .

“Why the internet is so dangerous to real democracy”

Our wide-ranging search for information about agricultural communications often leads us to thought-stirring perspectives. We call attention here to an article in the journal, Democracy and Nature . Authors Matt Hern and Stu Chaulk analyze the internet as inherently degrading of local community and the possibility of real democracy emerging.

“In a better culture, in a saner social environment, it is thoroughly possible that the internet could be widely used usefully, ecologically, and wisely. To be sure, there is much of our culture well worth replacing; the Net however, displaces the wrong things. It advances speed, access to more information, efficiency, and private isolation. None of these are currently lacking, while it degrades that which desperately requires nurturing; family, community, home, public space, common discourse, and local places. A virtual future is a future to be feared.”

You can read this article at: http://www.democracynature.org/vol6/hern_chaulk_internet.htm

Farmers and extension services—keys to agricultural innovation

Case studies, interviews and SWOT workshops with experts underlined the vital role of farmers and extension services in agricultural innovation systems. A team of researchers in Germany found that “the role of farmers in innovation processes is not restricted to (‘passive’) adoption. Rather, some farmers act as lead users, such as in research and development in precision farming. They provide qualified detailed feedback to suppliers and formulate needs that lead to new innovation processes.”

The neutral, networking functions of Extension services, experiment stations and their publications also emerged as important. “In the case studies on precision farming and energy in horticulture, a lack of neutral information about the benefits of innovations and information on their implementation was mentioned as a relevant gap, an issue of particular importance in the highly specialized horticultural subsector.”

These current findings are consistent with a large body of research and experience across the decades and across the globe.

You can read this paper from a 2012 seminar of the European Association of Agricultural Economics (EAAE) at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/135792

Using metaphors, analogies and similes to create agri-images

Thanks to Ann Wylie for alerting us (and other readers of ByLine from the American Agricultural Editors’ Association) to a website—GistOut—that identifies topic-based metaphors, analogies, and similes. Here are a few examples related to communications and agriculture:

“Facebook is like a potato chip. It gives you information, but not enough to satisfy you, so you keep looking.”

“Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee and just as hard to sleep after.”

“Communication in a family business is like location in real estate. It’s everything.”

“Learning photography is like learning a new language.”

You can visit GistOut and scout for examples at: http://gistout.com/g4/

What is the best way to get successful research results taken up by farmers?

Geoffrey Moss of Moss Associates Ltd. In Wellington, New Zealand, would like some feedback to that simple question. He has long career interest that prompts the question and international experience that guides his thoughts.

“I once asked many knowledgeable people this question in New Zealand. Their opinions were many and varied. It was not reading about the results of trials; it was not seeing how it was done on a TV programme; it was not seeing a demonstration at a field day on a research station; it was simply seeing how a local farmer was getting better results.

“Small groups of farmers, sharing their knowledge and experiences and often their equipment, can make a rapid advance in agricultural production. This is an area the extension worker should target with demonstrations and trials to show new farming techniques or new varieties of plants and animals.

“Organizing small groups of farmers to regularly visit each other’s farms would be my first choice. This was the basic technique used in Taiwan when they turned their country around from a food importing country to a food exporting country. Small discussion groups have a good track record in many countries.”

We appreciate these insights from Geoffrey Moss and welcome your thoughts about answering this question. Send them to us at docctr@library.illinois.edu

Communicator activities approaching

  • November 6, 2013
    Deadline for submitting posters to be presented in the Agricultural Communications Section (above). To feature innovative ideas and research in agricultural communications. Contact: Frankie Gould at: fgould@agcenter.lus.edu .
  • November 13-15, 2013
    “Farm broadcasting: Intrusive Success.” Annual meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA. Information: http://www.nafb.com

On the 2013 List of Banished Words

We close this issue of ACDC News with two agricultural terms among 12 that deserve to be banished, according to nominations selected for the 38 th annual list from Lake Superior State University. This program highlights words to be banished from the Queen’s English for misuse, overuse, and general uselessness. The words related to agriculture include:

  • Superfood
  • Boneless wings

Topping the total list so far this year:

  • Fiscal cliff
  • Kick the can down the road

You can read the full 2013 list and learn how to enter your own nominations at: http://www.lssu.edu/banished/current.php

Best wishes and good searching.

Please pass along your reactions, suggestions and ideas. Feel free to invite our help as you search for information. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @ACDCUIUC . And please suggest (or send) agricultural communications documents we might add to this unique collection. We welcome them in hard copy (sent to Ag Comm Documentation Center, Room 510, 1101 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801) or in electronic format sent to docctr@library.illinois.edu

ACDC News – Issue 13-14

Posted on by Nicholas Ferraz de Oliveira

Cooperative communicators celebrating 60 years

Congratulations to members of the Cooperative Communicators Association (CCA) as they observe the 60 th anniversary of their professional organization. What formed in 1953 as the Cooperative Editorial Association now serves more than 300 communicators across the U.S., New Zealand, Canada, and United Kingdom. It helps develop professionals who communicate for cooperatives and others interested in cooperative values and principles. They lead communications efforts for cooperatives in farm marketing and supply, foods, rural electric services, farm credit, consumer interests, and others.

You can view historical highlights, memories and other anniversary information on a special website at: http://www.communicators.coop/60_Anniversary/default.htm .

Where is (rural) watchdog journalism today?

Dan Froomkin, former senior Washington correspondent for The Huffington Post, asked about the current state of watchdog journalism in the Spring 2013 issue of Nieman Reports . He answered by leading with a newspaper series about the rural counties of South Carolina where conditions drag the state’s rankings in health, education and economic opportunity to “the bottom of nearly every list you want it to be at the top of.”

Reporter Doug Pardue of the Charleston Post and Courier used an approach which illustrated what Froomkin noted as a new way watchdog reporters fulfill an old mission. To many people, he said, watchdog reporting is synonymous with investigating and ferreting out secrets. However, watchdog reporting also involves reporting what may well be in plain sight—contrasting what is said, rebuffing, rebutting misinformation, and sometimes even taking a position on what the facts suggest is the right solution.

You can read this article at: http://www.nieman.harvard.edu/reportsitemprint.aspx?id=102910

New focus on communicating about farm and agricultural safety

Our new research project is under way! ACDC and the National Farm Medicine Center are collaborating in a pilot project to lay the groundwork for expanded and innovative communications about agricultural safety. It is funded by the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH). Prof. Joyce Wright of ACDC is principal investigator with communications specialist Scott Heiberger serving as representative of the National Farm Medicine Center, based in Marshfield, Wisconsin. Matt Harrington, information specialist, serves as team coordinator, assisted by Amanda Marolf as research analyst and Jim Evans as communications resource person.

The first steps involve examining the amount and nature of safety-related media coverage in several hazardous industries, including agriculture. Efforts will also involve survey research and a literature review, drawing upon resources in the ACDC collection and other sources. The project timeline extends until Spring 2014. According to principal investigator Wright, this project involves cutting-edge research on communications in support of farm and agricultural safety.

Reading food labels takes 11 pounds off body weight

Food labeling and dietary guidance help consumers make healthier choices, according to a national study by Joanna Parks of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. She used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey to estimate the effect of food labels and dietary guidance on the intake of 18 nutrients. She found that:

  • Using the Nutrition Facts panel on food labels decreases total calories consumed per day by 120 kilocalories, enough to explain at least an 11-pound difference in steady state body weight.
  • Using health claims, ingredient lists and serving size information appears to reduce risk of cardiovascular disease and facilitate the management of body weight and diet-related health conditions such as hypertension.
  • Using the MyPyramid meal panel decreases average daily intake of cholesterol.

“Unfortunately,” she concludes, “it appears that many individuals only use these tools and information once they have developed diet-related diseases that necessitate changes in diet and lifestyle.”

You can read this 2013 conference paper, “The effects of food labeling,” at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/149667

How local is local?

With consumers increasingly interested in local foods, agricultural researchers are examining what “local” means to consumers. Two University of Kentucky agricultural economists used an online choice experiment to examine preference among U.S. and Canadian consumers for beef steaks with different food mile implications. Among the findings:

  • Consumers indicated that 160 km (100 miles) distance is an appropriate definition to local food, while 320 km (200 miles) is slightly less preferred.
  • On average, they preferred LOCAL over PRODUCT OF CANADA and PRODUCT OF USA.

You can read this 2013 conference paper at: http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/handle/142828

Evaluating the impact of your website

The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, Rome, Italy, has created an 87-page guide to help CGIAR Centers throughout the world evaluate the usage, usability and usefulness of their websites. Tools include web log analysis, web analytics, usability measurement, surveys among users, website performance tests, and others.

You can read this 2007 guide at: http://ictkm.cgiar.org/archives/Evaluating_the_Impact_of_Your_Website.pdf

Communicator activities approaching

  • October 4-6, 2013
    “Big agriculture in a small setting.” Annual conference of the Canadian Farm Writers’ Federation (CFWF) at Harrison Hot Springs Resort in British Columbia.
    Information: http://www.cfwf2013.ca/index.html
  • October 18, 2013
    Deadline for submitting research and professional papers to be presented in the Agricultural Communications Section of the Southern Association of Agricultural Scientists meeting in Dallas, Texas, February 1-4, 2014. Contact: Craig Gautreaux at cgautreaux@agcenter.lsu.edu .
    Information about the Section: https://sites.google.com/a/extension.org/saasagcomm/home
  • November 6, 2013
    Deadline for submitting posters to be presented in the Agricultural Communications Section (above). To feature innovative ideas and research in agricultural communications.
    Contact: Frankie Gould at fgould@agcenter.lus.edu .
  • November 13-15, 2013
    “Farm broadcasting: Intrusive Success.” Annual meeting of the National Association of Farm Broadcasting (NAFB) in Kansas City, Missouri USA.
    Information: http://www.nafb.com

A quiz for the language experts

We close this issue of ACDC News with a quiz item from Prof. Ernest Barreto of the Nonlinear Science Group at George Mason University.

Question:        What English words contain all the vowels in alphabetical order?

Answers:         Facetious and abstemious

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